Page 148

Kloster Grünau

Schollbrunn, Bavaria

American Zone of Occupation, Germany

0905 1 March 1946

Cronley handed Niedermeyer two neatly wrapped packages of currency. The binders on each read $5,000 over and over in red lettering.

“El Jefe would have repaid me for what I loaned you in Vienna,” Niedermeyer said.

“When you see him, tell him DCI owes me ten thousand, but let’s not complicate things now. Follow my sacred principle.”

“What sacred principle is that?”

“When somebody offers you money, take it.”

“Jim, there’s a car here. You don’t have to fly me to the Compound.”

“If Colonel Wallace doesn’t already know we’re here, he will soon. I don’t want him to think I’m sneaking around. Besides, General Gehlen may have some thoughts about Vienna.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I’ll ask—you don’t have to tell me—what you’re going to talk about with Gehlen.”

“Well, you already know some of it. Seven-K showed us the proof that it’s too late to execute that operation. But there were two parts to it, the second being taking out Gábor Péter. He may still want to carry that out. I want to dissuade him from doing so. Now is not the time. That may be difficult as my brother-in-law, former Oberstleutnant Sigmund Schneiber, was not only one of his best agents, but close to him personally. He wanted him back badly, and now that he’s dead, I’m afraid the general will want to take out Gábor Péter both professionally—it will send a message to both the Allamvedelmi Osztaly and the NKGB—and personally. In your terms, Jim, Gábor Péter is a three-star sonofabitch.”

“You don’t have to answer this, either. How much is El Jefe involved in this?”

“Oscar operates on gut feelings. He thinks—and you know we have no proof either way—that the NKGB killed your friend Moriarty. Oscar wanted to take out—he used the phrase ‘tit for tat’—Ivan Serov. I dissuaded him. So he asked me what NKGB surrogate most deserved elimination. I told him Gábor Péter. This was before he had taken either my brother-in-law or my wife. Oscar asked why Gábor Péter, and I told him it would send a message to both the NKGB and to their Hungarian surrogates that we have people everywhere.

“I called him when my brother was arrested, and again when they took my wife. His reply was, ‘Well, with a little luck, maybe Gehlen’s guys can get them back at the same time they take out Gábor Péter.’”

“What does Wallace know about this?”

“Oscar apparently decided he doesn’t have the Need to Know. He told me not to tell him unless I have to. It’s a delicate situation.”

“Delicate?”

“Wallace believes he’s running the Gehlen Organization as chief, DCI-Europe. Oscar—and more important, the admiral—look at the Gehlen Organization as a DCI asset that can—and should—be used around the world. The Soviets are causing trouble in Japan, Korea, and all over South America. When he learns this, Wallace is likely to think he’s been demoted.”

“So you’re going to tell him?”

“As soon as the right moment arrives in Munich.”

“Am I going to be in the way? I could just drop you at the Compound.”

“Since I’m going to tell Wallace what’s going on, you probably should be there when I tell him Oscar told me to make it clear to him that you’re chasing Odessa and von Dietelburg at his orders, and Wallace isn’t to interfere.”

[TWO]

The South German Industrial Development Organization Compound

Pullach, Bavaria

American Zone of Occupation, Germany

1015 1 March 1946